Graham Potter has urged Chelsea fans to stick with him after the Blues slumped to another Premier League defeat against Manchester City on Thursday night.
Riyad Mahrez' second-half strike was enough to seal a 1-0 win for City, who nudged closer to Arsenal in the title race and piled more pressure on Potter, who has been criticised in some quarters following a run of underwhelming results.
The Blues have now won just once in their last eight Premier League games and are currently 10th in the top-flight standings. Their task against City wasn't aided by early injuries to Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic, who were both forced off inside the opening 20 minutes at Stamford Bridge.
Potter, who introduced youngsters Omari Hutchinson and Lewis Hall from the bench, has pleaded for patience amid Chelsea's recent run of form. And he'll be hoping to be afforded the same level of understanding from Chelsea owner Todd Boehly, who watched his side slump to another defeat.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Potter said: “When you consider everything losing Raheem [Sterling] and Christian [Pulisic] so early, the lads gave everything. It was a spirited performance against a top team, so apart from the result I’m proud of the players.
“It’s tough at the moment I must admit and I feel for the boys. We have to stick together. It was disappointing to lose those guys but the players on the pitch and the ones that came in gave everything and that’s all you can ask for.
“I thought we committed too many men too high to press them and that opened us up and then you have to credit their quality. In any goal you feel you can do a little bit better but you have to credit Manchester City."
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Sterling and Pulisic are set to join midfield talisman Mason Mount in the treatment room after the Blues academy graduate picked up an injury in training in the build-up to Thursday's match.
But Potter has insisted that Chelsea cannot use their mounting injury list as an excuse for recent results. He added: “We can’t complain about it [the injury list] We just have to get on with it. The boys on the pitch gave everything and did what we asked them to do and Manchester City don’t give you much.
“We had to freshen it up but Lewis [Hall] and Amari [Hutchinson] are young players starting out and Conor [Gallagher] gave everything, it was nice to have that personality from the bench.
“You always have to take responsibility but you hope people look at the whole context and see where we are and what we have had to deal with but at the same time emotions are high and you have to try and ride out any storm and try to stay level. The crowd were behind the team and could see them doing everything.”
